Bars and Taverns
by Bellatrix wannabe 89
Summary: There's nothing so good about a Valentines Day that a drink at a bar with a dimpled blue eyed man couldn't make it better. Fortunately that happens to be true for every version of Regina Mills... Written for Love from OQ 2019 for LPsDiamond1
1. Chapter 1

I own no one but my own people

**A/N So this my Love from OQ gifts for LPsDiamond1 on twitter. I really really hope you like them and I didn't disappoint you and I hope you have an incredibly happy Valentines Day *thousands of heart emojis***

God Regina Mills hated Valentines Day.

She also hated blind dates. So it would definitely stand to reason that she loathed with all of her being blind dates on Valentine's Day.

So why the hell had she let her mother talk her into doing just that?

It wasn't so much that with the exception of a few short lived relationships that didn't go anywhere after the third date so she had, in essence, been single since the day her fiancée Daniel was killed in a fire.

Her Valentine's Day usually consisted of the finest box of chocolate a twelve year old boy with a $10 a week allowance could buy and a heart shaped deep dish pizza from Giordano's, a safe simple day that celebrated the love she and her son Henry shared.

This year though her Valentines Day was being celebrated by dressing in a little lace black dress that expertly highlighted the curves Regina wanted to showoff while it hid the ones she didn't thanks to her co-worker and waiting for the man Cora told Regina would be perfect for her.

Keith Nottingham worked in the same firm that Regina's father worked at. He was a young lawyer like Regina but where as her concentration was criminal law and she choose to work for the City of Chicago to put away its most dangerous gang members, Nottingham defended the richest patrons of the Windy City accused of bank fraud, embezzlement, scams and other white collar crimes so, suffice to say, the two paths had never actually crossed in the courtroom.

Cora told her daughter that Nottingham was powerful and one of the wealthiest men in Chicago, two of the most important aspects in a man according to her mother, and she had described him as an 'old fashioned kind of guy.' Rather that meant he held opened doors for her and footed the dinner bill or believed that because had something dangling between his legs that made him superior to the gentler sex Regina wasn't sure although, judging by her mother's standards in what constituted the perfect man, she unfortunately believed it was the latter.

However; seeing as it was going on 8:15 and they had agreed to drinks and dinner at 8:00, she guessed puntuallity wasn't one of his strong suits. But Regina promised Cora she would give this man a chance so she sat at the bar in one of the better restaurants on the north side of the city, her stomach grumbling rather unattractively and her mouth watering at the smell of the delicacy's wafting over from the dining area.

She didn't care how powerful or wealthy this Nottingham was, if he didn't get here soon Regina was going to ask if there was a chair for one open, eat some of the best sword fish the city had to offer and forget this whole wretched evening.

Just as she pulled out her phone to see if Keith had contacted her to let her know he was going to be late, he hadn't, or Henry texted or called her, half hoping he would so she had an excuse to leave when she felt a presence standing behind her.

"Zelena?" a rather elegant British accent asked rather hopefully.

Regina turned towards the voice not quite paying attention to the man and still glancing down at her phone. "Unfortunately not," she answered. She finally looked up from her phone and was almost taken back at the man standing in front of her.

He was handsome. Quite handsome as a matter of fact with dark blonde hair falling oh-so perfectly in his face and the bluest pair of eyes she ever had the pleasure of seeing, even more bluer than Daniels had been, and a perfectly trimmed five a clock shadow. She could tell the suit he was wearing was something out of a higher end department store, it fit but wasn't a tailored fit yet somehow still highlighted the athletic body beneath it.

"Damn," the man sighed as he took the empty seat beside her at the bar. "That would have been a nice surprise on an otherwise wretched day,"

Regina laughed into her apple martini while the British man signaled the bartender over and put in an order for some dark stout that Regina had never heard of before.

The brunette glanced at her phone again, seeing the minutes slowly tick further and further away from the time she and Nottingham were supposed to meet. _Well_, she thought as she turned towards the blue eyed stranger, _no harm in passing the time..._

"Sounds like you're having about as good a Vanlentines Day as I am," she offered with a sympathetic smile. "Blind date?" she guessed.

The man nodded. "Mmm. My friend John set me up with some woman who lives in the building he works out of. Apparently he thinks British, attractive and full of 'sass' is all I'm interested in because that's all he told he about her."

"And yet here you are."

"Only because I owe him for a game of pool. It was either this or pay him $50."

"...You realize you're gonna spend up to at least $70 here right? You were better off just paying him."

"Yes but what I failed to mention is John only won by default so I'd rather my money go towards buying me dinner then his cheating arse."

Regina chuckled, finally putting her phone back in her purse and giving the British man her full attention. She stuck out her hand and the man promptly took it, surprising her with how hard and calloused his palm was. Definitely not a white collar worker then…

"Regina Mills. My mother refused to get off my back unless I agreed to her demands to meet this guy."

"Robin Locksley. My best mate is a cheat at pub games."

Her red painted lips tugged upwards once more as he eyes drifted towards the clock on the wall above a Grey Goose beer sign. Nottingham was now twenty minutes late and hadn't given her so much as a courtesy text to let her know if he was backing out or just late. Robins eyes followed her and he grimaced for her sake.

"Your date is late?" he guessed, his suspicion confirmed when she nodded. "He bother calling?"

"Not even a 'sorry I'm late' text."

Robin winced at the rudeness on her behalf. "I'm sorry, Regina."

"It's fine." Regina grabbed the wedge of apple from the rim of her glass and took a small bite of the bitter-sweet fruit. "Considering what my mother considers to be a 'suitable match' I almost guarantee I lucked out."

It was Robins turn to laugh now and he took a quick swig of his drink as he did. "Sounds like you're terribly disappointed that he didn't show."

"Oh I'm absolutely heartbroken," she said with a short snicker, finishing the rest of her apple wedge. "I don't know how I'll survive the night. But I take partial blame, I should know better then to listen to my mother by now. I should have just stayed home and ate pizza with my son."

"You have a son?" Robin inquired, surprising Regina with the tone he used. He asked her with a tone that didn't make him want to get up and run like most men who found out she was a single parent but he was merely curious, he simply making conversation with her.

Which was why Regina has no problems pulling out her phone and flipping through the photos until she reached the most recent photo of her and Henry.

He was grinning as wide as he could as he held up a blue first place ribbon and Regina was standing beside him looking as proud as a mother could possibly be.

"He won a writing contest his school put on," she explained as she handed Robin her phone. "He actually wrote a story telling why the Evil Queen hated Snow White so much. Turns out she was responsible for killing the Queens first love."

"You know I never bought that a woman could be THAT jealous that she would try to kill her stepdaughter, I knew there had to be a deeper reason," he said as he looked down at the photo. "He has your… chin," he offered, earning a lighthearted chuckle from the woman sitting beside her.

"I know, I know he doesn't really look like me. Henry definitely takes after his dads side of the family."

Robin nodded as he handed the phone back to Regina and got out his own in return. "Me and my boy are in the same boat," he said, graciously refraining from asking her what happened to Daniel. He clicked his phone a few times, scrolling through until he got to the photo he wanted to show her and handed her his phone.

Regina's face lit up as she gazed at the photo of what might be one of the most adorable four year old she had ever seen sitting high atop his father's shoulders with a head full of dark curls, bright brown eyes and dimples that were so deep they would have stood out even without him smiling.

"He's precious."

"He's lucky that he favors his mother I'd say," he said with a smile. "Roland has my dimples and my smile but everything else of his belongs to my Marian, God rest her soul."

"I'm sorry," she offered as she handed him back the phone.

"Thank you," he told her as he put the phone back in his pocket. "Two years last September," he explained with that same melancholy in his voice that always seemed to over take him when he spoke about his first wife. "As pathetic as it is this would have only been my third date since I lost her."

"I don't think that's pathetic at all," she admitted, knowing from personal experience just how hard it was to get back into the game after the loss of a loved one. "When I lost Daniel, Henry's father, before my son was born, it took me three years before I could even think about being with someone else. So trust me, I know how hard it can be to get over that guilt you have when you even think about being with someone else."

Robin nodded in agreement, knowing all too well that feeling she was describing, that guilt that ate away at you for even looking at another woman, that shame you felt when you considered just browsing for dating apps on your phone, the feeling that every moment you considered moving on your love was looking down at you in disappointment…

It took Robin a whole year to make that first step, to actually work up then courage to ask a woman at the pub for her number. He took her out for Deep Dish pizza and beer, a casual low-key date with no expectations but the way she walked, the way she talked, the way she laughed, even the way she breathed Robin found himself comparing her to his Marian.

Deciding that wasn't fair to the woman, nor to Marian's memory, he ended the date with a friendly kiss on the cheek and an apology that this probably wasn't going to work out.

Several months later he took out a woman he met at the gym which went fairly well. She was kind, generous, brown hair, brown eyes with just the perfect amount of curves. They went out three times, he even got to make out with her on her couch on the third date, but when she found out he had a child she told him she didn't think she could be a mother and that was the end of that short lived relationship.

Then his friend John told him of this woman who lived in the building where he worked and he thought she would be perfect for Robin, this woman named Zelena West who also grew up in London and he had agreed to go, with Robin grumbling and muttering how pathetic blind dates were all the while.

However, Robin thought as he mirrored Regina when she lifted her glass, he was starting to think that there may have been something to this whole blind dating situation, even if it was with the person he wasn't supposed to be with.

"To Marian and Daniel," she toasted to their two lost loves who had given them both the best gifts anyone could ask for.

"To Daniel and Marian," Robin replied in kind, lightly clinking his glass against hers.

Once the two of them had drank to their memories, Robin licked the dark ale from his lips if nothing more then to give him time to work up the nerve to utter his next sentence.

"Forgive me for being forward, Regina, but I find it hard to believe someone as stunning as you would have so much trouble finding a date that you need to take your mother up on her recommendations, especially when she recommends men who don't appear to posess a watch."

Her lips turned upwards in a fun and, dare he hope, flirty smile as she drank the last few remaining swallows of her martini and signaling the bartender over for another one.

"I wish it was more exciting then this but I work quite a bit and between preparing for court, arguing my cases, doing paperwork and being a single mom; there's not a lot of time left over for my love life."

"Oh so you're a lawyer?" he asked, being answered with a nod of her head.

"Gang unit," she explained. "That's another reason I don't really date, most people I interact with are lawyers, cops or perps and I really don't want to dive into that dating pool with just those options.".

Robin nodded slowly. "Makes sense. Most cops are racist, biased, dirty brutes who don't know how to treat a woman."

"I completely agree. So you know what I do, I think it's only fair to ask you what you do for a living?"

"I'm a cop."

Regina laughed, bringing the new drink the bartender brought over to her lips when she noticed Robin wasn't joining in on her amusement for what she thought was a joke.

"...You're serious?"

A playful smile made its way to Robins lips as he reached into his breast pocket and pulled out that infamous star shield all Chicago cops earned after their completance in the academy.

"I'm a detective actually," he explained, biting back a laugh at the scarlet blush that creeped up her neck as she put his badge back in his pocket. "So technically I'm not in that particular dating pool, I'm actually a step above it."

Regina tried to shake away the lingering embarrassment from her admittedly rather ill-timed comment and choose to just focus on the fact Robin seemed amused at her blunder rather than offenended.

"Well being a detective makes all the difference," she offered, being thankfully met with Robins light hearted laugh.

"Yes I suppose it does. Afterall with there being such a huge difference between cops and detectives..."

"Oh they're worlds apart."

"Exactly." She chuckled softly, grateful that her bias hadn't cut their date? Meeting? Conversation while they waited for their respected meetups? Whatever you would call this lucky twist of events, short. "What unit are you out of?"

"White Collar Crimes," Robin answered. When Regina responded with wide eyes and a dropped jaw Robin asked her what was wrong.

"Nothing," she responded. "Nothing, it's- well it's actually quite funny. The guy I'm supposed to be meeting? He's one of the most famous defense attorneys for white collar criminals in the city."

"Oh is he? What's his name."

"Keith Nottingham."

Robin didn't blink. "I see," he said, raising his glass to his lips. "Well… far be it from me to insult a sickly man."

"What's wrong with him?"

"He has an unfortunate case of his head being stuck firmly up his arse."

Regina had picked the most importune moment to take a drink because she nearly choked with laughter on the sweet drink. Robin grinned at the beautiful sound and leaned forward, wiping a stray tear from her eye.

"You know what?"

A sly smile broke out on her lips as she leaned in as well, nearly falling off the red leather seat at the bar so that she might be as close to Robin as possible.

"What?" she asked, daring to reach out and run a delicate finger over his outter thigh, watching as he bit his lips and his blue eyes traveled down to what the top of her dress exposed.

"I'm rather grateful that Nottingham didn't show up."

"So am-."

"Would you mind moving your bloody purse?"

Without giving Regina a moment to even register what this new arrival was asking her purse was plopped uncerimonesly on the wooden bar and would have knocked over her drink had Robin not been quick enough to catch it.

"People need to actually sit here," the woman who had joined them said in a rather posh accent that mirrored Robins.

She was good looking, very good looking, with wild red curls and light green almost grey eyes with a body that was made for sin covered by a forest green silk dress that left very little to the imagination.

"You could have asked nicely," Regina scolded her, earning a scoff in reply.

"Or you could use your head and realize people would want to sit at the bar on Valentine's Day."

The red headed woman snapped her fingers at the bartender, not even giving him a moment to respond before she was barking an order to make her a green apple martini.

Regina happened to catch the name on the license that the red head handed over to the bartender, a way to ensure she paid her fare. The brunette leaned in close to Robins ear, enjoying the way he shifted when her hot breath hit his ear.

"Meet Zelena West," she whispered to him, snickering when he groaned into his hands.

"I'm gonna kill John," he muttered before taking a large drink of his ale.

Before Regina could reply however Zelena was talking again.

"God blind dates are idiotic," she sighed outloud to no one, not even bothering with a nod of thanks to the bartender. "I didn't even want to come but my stupid handyman promised to rig it so the water pressure in my shower was higher if I did."

"Did your handyman tell you about this person at least?" asked Regina, playing along and having to bite back a playful grin all the while.

"Just that he was good looking, a cop, born in London and his name was Robin Locksley. What kind of a stupid name is that anyway?" she muttered into her drink. "Sounds like something from Game of Thrones."

"I don't know." Regina turned to look at the man sitting beside her who merely raised a brow at the insult Zelena gave. "I like the name Robin. It's a classy proper British sort of name." She bit her lip again as her finger traveled up and down his suit covered thigh once more. "It's kind of a sexy name, I think. Good for calling out in bed and what not…"

Regina smirked at the blue eyed man sitting beside her before she turned back to Zelena.

"I think it's rather horrid if you ask me," she sighed. Out of the corner of Reginas eye she saw Robin pull out his phone and began typing furiously fast. "Also the only reason someone becomes a cop is because they're too dumb to do anything else. God, this whole date is going to be a disaster…"

Before she could further complain however there was a tiny ping coming from her purse, a text alert judging by the way she reached into her bag and stared at the phone.

It was almost comical the way her face changed from complete disinterest to shock to anger back to shock and finally settled on anger as it's final expression.

"The stupid bloody prat!" She shouted at her phone before she began typing at a tremendous pace.

"Something the matter?" asked Regina, hearing the mutliple tiny pings coming from Robins phone and seeing messages from 'blind date' popping up on his screen as quick as she could blink.

"Bloody wanker texted me that he met someone on the way to the date!" Zelena yelled at Regina who failed at keeping the amusement from shining through but thankfully the red head was too distracted to notice the look of the woman next to her or the perfectly timed text alerts coming from the phone just one person down. "This whole night is ruined!"

Without another word to each other Zelena got off of the seat and stormed out of the restaurant, angry little texts still being delivered to the bright eyed man who just blocked her number rather than read them.

"I'm starting to see why your friend let you take a woman out on a date rather then have you pay up," Regina said with a laugh once the door had slammed behind the red head.

"I'm starting to see why too. Although, despite his best efforts, I definitely feel like I came out on top. As 'charming' as my date appeared to be, she's not…"

"A halfway decent human being?"

"That too but I was going to say she isn't like you. She isn't… stunning," he finally decided. "In every way."

Regina bit her lip as she looked over the man she wasn't even supposed to meet. "You wanna hear something funny? I actually feel the same way."

Robin smiled at her, taking a long drink from his stout before he spoke. "So… here we sit, two people who for all intents and purposes only met up because their night went awry and their loved ones set them up with people who deserve neither their time nor their attention."

"Mmm. And what could these two people whose Valentine's Day have gone horribly, horribly wrong do for the rest of their evening?"

Another smile from the man sitting beside her as he reached out and took hold of her hand, running his thumb over the back of her hand.

"I have a few ideas," he said rather brazenly with a bold and flirty look in his eye that made Regina bite her lip and picture what the scuff on his face would feel like when he was kissing her on the lips, the crook of the neck, behind the ear, less proper places… "But how about we start with dinner?"

This time it was Reginas turn to grin and make some of the color of the man's cheeks stand out as she crossed that invisible threshold between the chairs with her foot and ran it against his.

"I think I'd like that," she told him with a sly grin. Robin responded in kind by offering her a hand and leading her over to the matredee, informing the host that Locksley, party of 2 was now ready to eat.

"So," she said when they were seated at a small intimate table, raising a glass of wine. "Here's to blind dates not showing up."

Robin lifted his glass as well and lightly clinked it against hers. "And to them being absolutely horrid."

After a remarkably lovely dinner of roast pheasant and grilled swordfish followed by a shared piece of cherry chocolate cheesecake, Robin and Regina stood outside her car, neither one of them wanting the other to go just yet.

"This was the best date I've had in a very long time, Robin admitted to Regina who gave him a shy but flirty smile, her heart pounding as he took a half step nearer to her.

"Me too," Regina said, her eyes falling on his lips with hopes that he would use them soon. "This has been an incredible night, Robin. I don't think I've ever been happy that a date bailed on me."

"Not as happy as I am that John cheats at pool."

She chuckled softly, draping her arms around his neck while his found her waist and pulled her in so that she could smell his cologne, a pleasant comforting scent of pine and rain water and earth.

Forest, she realized as she inhaled his scent. He smelled like forest.

"So was this a one time 'neither of us have anything else to do for Valentines Day' date," Robin asked her, his voice that of a soft whisper so he had to lean in close to her ear, a sly grin on his face when she shuddered at the pleasant sensation of his breath on her ear. "Or can I see you again, Regina?"

She clicked her tongue, trying her best to feign indifference to the man in front of her. "Well I don't know, I may wanna try getting ahold of Nottingham again."

"Oh you do, do you?"

"Mmm. He is a lawyer afterall, I'm a lawyer, it just makes sense."

"It does," Robin breathed, nuzzling her neck.

"And as you said," she said with a soft moan as his hands wondered down to her hips. "Cops are all horrible, biased, unfair people."

"We're completely wretched…"

"So we really… really shouldn't…"

"We shouldn't what?" he whispered, his lips so close to her she could practically taste him.

"I have no idea," she muttered before she grabbed him by the lapels of his coat and kissed him good, and long and hard.

Then afterwards, when she was driving home with his number safely stored in his phone and a promise and intention to call him the next day, she could only think of one thing;

God Regina Mills loved Valentines Day.

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	2. Chapter 2

I own no one but my own people

Gods Regina Mills hated The Day of the Saints Heart.

She also hated the king. So it would definitely stand to reason that she loathed with all of her being spending this particular holiday with her husband.

This particular holiday was a mainstay in all of the Enchanted Forest, a celebration of love and romance it was meant to show your significant other how much you cared for them with poetry, flowers, jewelry, sex… while others offered their true love a ring promising to make them theirs for the rest of their life.

When she was a child Cora would never allow the castle to celebrate this particular holiday.

"Love is weakness," she would remind her daughter firmly everytime Regina requested that the castle be decorated in red roses or asked if they could hold a ball to commemorate the holiday like other castles did. "Why would you want to celebrate weakness?"

But Regina never believed that, her father neither, which is how she always ended up with a single red rose on her bedside from Henry that she knew to hide from her mother.

She only got to celebrate the Saints Heart just once with Daniel. She snuck out late at night as she normally did but rather then go to their secret spot beneath the tree she met him at the edge of firefly hill where he had arranged a picnic and gave her a bouquet of wildflowers he had picked special just for her. After that they made love for the first time, Regina's first time not just with Daniel but with any boy, on the soft sweet smelling grass under the stars and afterwards as she laid wrapped in his arms she told him that this all felt like a beautiful dream and she never wanted to wake up from it.

But Regina would wake up. She would wake up from her dream and be thrust into a nightmare not even five weeks later when Cora crushed Daniels heart in front of her.

Now she was married to a man who was barely six months younger than her own father who paid no attention to her apart from when he wanted someplace to stick his wrinkled stubby cock. It had been less than four months since her wedding day when Saints Heart came around again but it had felt like ten years since Regina had her starlit picnic with her first love.

Leopold though, unlike her mother, did believe in true love and soulmates and all that other childish insanity the Queen at one time believed in, and more importantly he preached that to his insufferably naive daughter so for the first time in her life Regina was celebrating The Saints Heart. Leopold doused the whole castle in pink silk and white lace and red velvet, red roses and pink carnations seemed to have sprouted up over the castle and hearts of every shape and size were pasted on every inch of wall and window not covered by the aforementioned decorations. Real life swans, Snow's favorite type of animal, had been trained to swim in the castle ponds in a heart formation as well.

The display was nauseatingly obnoxious and immature, certainly not the classy decor that Regina always pictured when she pictured her mother decorating the castle of her childhood. She suggested toning it down some, making it a touch more regal and upscale but Snow told her father she loved it so the stayed and Regina was punished by the King with no food for two days for 'trying to undermine the princess.'

There was also to be a ball for all the lord's and ladies in the land, celebrating their love and romance for all the kingdoms to see. They would drink wine, eat heart shaped food, dance, be merry and Regina, meanwhile, would be sitting in the back of the lavishly decorated ballroom being completely ignored by Leopold who would rather spend the whole night dancing with and enjoying the company of his daughter then his nineteen year old beautiful Queen. Where as her last Saints Hearts was spent with happy and glowing with love, this one would be spent being ignored and seething in anger.

Which is why, Regina decided, she wasn't going to celebrate Saints Heart this year. She wouldn't even be at the castle during the ball, it's not as if she would even be missed by the staff or the Royal family anyway. So instead, before her handmaidens came upstairs to dress her, she put on a simple white gown with clear crystals along the bodice and ivy and flower embroidered into the fabric with long white billowing sleeves, a wine colored traveling cloak, made her way secretly out to the stables where her beloved Rocinante was kept, saddled him and rode off into the night.

She rode for an hour or more, keeping on the main road with the star light and moon to guide her. Regina would find some inn to stay at for the night and go back in the morning when the party was over and Leopold was passed out in his bed, too full of food and drink to even find the will to scold her for not being in her chambers.

The road was empty, save for another rider a few yards back and Regina was free to merely let her mind escape from all the horrors that came with being Queen and all that had since happened since she married the king.

After a while Regina could see lights in the distance from little homes and inns and taverns, a welcome sight after riding in the darkness for so long. It was Nottingham, a small kingdom just south of her own, full of forests and poor villages and people spoke with colorful accents.

As she continued on her trek another rider came galloping at half speed heading the opposite way. Regina moved over her horse to the shoulder of the road to let the rider pass but rather then ride past her, he stopped his horse right in front of hers. He was a mountain of a man and the horse he rode was bigger than Rocianate and Regina both almost.

"Happy Hearts Day! I believe there's enough room for you to pass," the Queen said with a friendly smile. When he didn't move from his spot her smile fell and her own heart began beating a little harder than normally in her chest. After another moment of waiting a few more moments she smiled at him, this time without it reaching her eyes.

"Have a good evening then," Regina said with all the gentle graceful humility her mother taught her a Queen should have. She urged her horse on but the moment she tried to pass him he shifted his large stallion over, blocking her way again.

Regina swallowed hard as she tried again, only for the same thing to happen again. She forced a laugh from her throat and another humble smile.

"I think someone's had a bit too much to drink. I'm gonna go left, you go right okay? Have a good evening," she tried again, only to be blocked by the large man sitting atop the large horse.

It was only then she realized the rider that had been a safe distance away was now right behind her and also refusing to move. The rider behind her was also a large man, though not nearly as large as the man in front leering at her.

Regina swallowed hard, yanking her horses reins to the side but he was right in front of her again.

"Out of the way," she barked, no longer using that soft grace Cora told her a lady should always use. She tried again, trying to dodge her horse, tried to race past him but he reeled his horse around and with the beast being as large as it was effectively blocking the road.

"I said move!"

"Well that's not very lady like," the man in front of her finally spoke with a dangerous sneer on his face that looked as though it had been roughly carved from wood.

Regina swallowed hard when she heard another set of horse hoods come thundering from the woods and pulled up alongside her, trapping her between the three horsemen and then the solid forest on the other side.

Her lip tumbled as the three riders closed in even closer and Regina could feel the horse beneath her becoming more and more skittish.

"Now what could a lovely lady such as yourself be doing out here on a cold lonely night?" the leader spoke again in that accent that was so prevalent in this part of the kingdom. "It's dangerous for a beautiful lady to be out here all alone in the cold."

_Just give them what they want_, she told herself when she eyed the sword at the large man's waist. Her voice trembled almost uncontrollably as her hands raised to the sky.

"I have gold, you can take as much as you want," she told them in a small scared voice that must have been amusing to the men because they all laughed at her words and Regina's heart was sent racing.

"Begging your pardon, but I don't need your permission to take your gold." The man reached out and stroked her face, his cold dark eyes looking over her body. "Nor anything else for that matter."

"Get your hands off me!" Regina snapped, raising her hand to strike him which proved a very dangerous mistake because the moment she released the reins the man behind her kicked her horse in the hindquarters as hard as he could, making it rear up dangerously, sending Regina to the cold hard ground with a painful cry and nearly toppling over himself.

It was all the Queen could do to crawl and scurry out of the way of the wild bucking horse who ran off through the woods as fast as his legs could carry him.

Regina tried to follow but the men were too fast and blocked any which way for her to go. Tears rushed to her eyes as the largest of the men jumped down from his horse and approached her, unsheathing a rusted but still dangerously sharp dagger from his waist.

"If you touch me-!"

"See the question isn't 'if' I'm going to touch you…," he told her as the other two men dismounted as well. "It's how much I'm gonna enjoy me self doing it."

Regina backed up as far as she could, unfortunately hitting the chest of one of the highwaymen who grabbed her by the arms and wrenched them behind her back and making the young queen cry out in agony as well as disgust when she felt something hard pressing into her back.

"I'm the Queen!" she cried desperately as tears overflowed her eyes as he stood in front of her. The third man stood guard, looking up and down the road for anyone who might have ridden up on them. "You can't do this to me! King Leopold will have your heads!"

The leader snickered at her proclamation and held the knife up to her neck. "If you're the Queen then I'm the princess Snow White," he sneered, his eyes traveling over her body once more. "Now then, boys… shall we see what the 'Queen' has under that pretty white dress?"

He went to move his knife up to her gown, meant to cut the dress from the top of the bodice but before he could rip a single stitch, a loud '_twang_' came from the forest beside them followed by a '_whoosh_' and before Regina could even blink the man holding her arms suddenly fell to the dirt road, an arrow firmly lodged in the back of his head.

Before Regina could even blink another arrow was sent flying out from the trees, hitting the lookout square in the chest and dropping him like hot stone.

No longer sneering, the leader of the group unsheathed his sword, glaring at the dark forest.

"Coward!" he shouted at the darkness, holding both sword and dagger in front of him. "Come out and face me like a man, Locksley!"

There was an eerie silence all around them, neither man nor Queen dared to move. Even Regina was terrified to run, afraid of this Locksley character firing a bow and hitting her.

When a few moments that felt like a lifetime and passed the man's dangerous grin returned with a vengeance as he grabbed hold of Regina's arm and pulled her towards him with a loud scared cry from the Queen.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw a black shape flitter across the road but it was gone before she could be sure of it.

"Guess it's just the two of us now, _your majesty_," he sneered, pulling the struggling and crying queen against his body.

"Guess again," a voice came suddenly from behind the two of them. The leader whipped around, ready to run whoever had interrupted him through with his sword when another arrow was loosed and struck him right in the heart, making him crash to the floor with a thunderous boom, taking Regina down with him. In the spot where she had been accosted, her whole body was shaking and trembling as the man with the bow and quiver of arrows carefully approached her.

"Don't be alarmed, M'lady, I'm only here to help," he told her with an unmatched softness. His accent seemed posher than the men who had attacked her, softer, gentler, warmer. He wore a forest green wool cloak over a dark green leather tunic with a white shirt underneath and dark brown leather riding trousers with tall leather boots.

Regina swallowed hard, shaking as he held out his hand to her.

"I won't touch you without your permission," he assured her, his eyes screaming that he was telling the truth. "I just want to help."

Still trembling slightly Regina reached out and took hold of his hand and he helped her off the ground.

"Thank you," she told him, a tremor still in ner voice. "For saving my life."

"You're quite welcome but there's no need to thank me for that, M'lady. Any honorable man would have done the same." He held out his hand to her. "My name's Robin, Robin of Locksley."

"Regina-." She bit her lip for a moment before she cleared her throat and grasped his outstretched hand. "Regina Cider."

His eyes glinted in amusement before he shook her hand. "It's an honor to meet you, Regina. I apologize that your first visit to Nottingham began with an assault, I assure you the rest of the kingdom is full of far better and honorable men."

"How do you know it's my first time visiting?"

"Because I've met most everyone in this kingdom."

"...And?"

A playful smirk crossed his lips. "And I doubt I'd ever forget meeting you."

Despite this wretched evening, despite the fear still eating away at her Regina smiled at her hero and when he offered her his arm, she took it and the two began the short trek towards the town.

"Not that I'm complaining," she said as they walked down the road. "But what were you doing out here this late at night?"

Robin chuckled softly as he slung his bow over his shoulder. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"You're my knight in green leather armor, I think I deserve to know the reason why my hero was able to save me."

Robin seemed to be waging some internal debate before he spoke. "There was a rumor that Prince John would be riding to King Leopold's castle tonight," he confessed to the Queen. "I had hoped to catch him and politely relieve him of the heavy burden that the sack of gold he was carrying was giving him."

Regina glanced over at her savior as the two of them walked into the small town on the edge of Nottingham, her heart began racing. "So… you were planning to rob the king?"

"The prince," Robin clarified. "As long as his brother lives, Richard is the rightful king. But… yes." Robin stopped and pointed to a rather run down building in the distance, an easy sight for someone with his eyesight but Regina had to squint to see where he was pointing at.

"That orphanage in the distance" he explained. "Was taxed to the point some of the children starved, all on the princes order. I was going to give them the gold I stole, every last cent."

Regina looked at her hero, this thief, and saw the truth shining as bright in his eyes as the candles burning in the windows of the homes beside them.

A playful smile rose on her lips. "Who knew a thief had honor?"

Robin returned the smile, something else in his smile that made butterflies that had laid dormant in Regina's stomach begin to flutter again like they had just done a few short months ago when Daniel would smile at her.

The pair began walking again and Regina found herself clutching his arm tighter and walking closer. "So if you'll permit me to ask, what would make a beautiful woman such as yourself ride alone at night?"

"I was heading to the inn, actually," Regina admitted.

"So you're not so alone then?" Seeing the confused look he continued. "A beautiful woman typically doesn't go to an inn late at night on Saint Hearts alone."

The way Robin called her beautiful, the effortless way he complimented her, something neither her mother nor her husband ever bothered to do, sent the already fluttering butterflies into more of a frenzy.

A soft smile rose on her lips as she shook her head. "I'm not meeting anyone, I swear." She wasn't sure why it was so important he knew that she wasn't meeting anyone but the butterflies definitely felt it was vital that he knew. "There was a party at King Leopold's castle and I really didn't wanna go."

Robin gazed at her in confusion. "You were invited to a party at a palace and you choose not to go?"

Realizing what she had said Regina cleared her throat and nodded. "Yes. I- I'm the Queen's handmaiden. I really didn't feel like working tonight."

A glint of amusement flashed in his eyes that she missed. "Oh really?"

"Mmm."

They stopped outside the inn that was fairly crowded with lovers getting drink and food before they headed up to their rooms they rented for a night of romance.

Robin held open the door and offering his hand once more indicating he wasn't quite ready to leave his new traveling companion just yet.

Regina bit her lip as a shy grin overtook her face and she slipped her hand into Robins as he assisted her up the rickety stone step and into the inn. He led her to the bar where he was greeted with a friendly smile from the barkeep and several other of the patrons, patting him the back, challenging him to a game of darts and thanking him for one charitable act or the other by buying him as many drinks as a man might possibly be able to drink in one night.

"You're certainly a popular man," Regina laughed as several mugs of ale were placed in front of him, one of which he slid over to the Queen. Robin chuckled and nodded, holding his mug aloft and motioning for Regina to do the same.

"That's what happens when you save children from the brink of starvation. Cheers," he said clinking his glass against hers.

A hint of a flirty smile brightened Olivia's face. "A bragger huh?"

"Just telling truths, M'lady. But you were telling me all about being a handmaiden in the Queen's service?"

Regina looked at him rather confused for a moment before she remembered the lie she told, that she was just a handmaiden looking to get out of work. She took a sip of ale in hopes of covering her hesitation and confusion. "Oh. Well… She's as normal as a Queen can be I suppose. The king would have ignored her all night anyway and I know her Majesty would want to be alone tonight to deal with that fact."

"...The Queen would prefer to be left alone?" he asked with a slight cock of his head. Unseen to Regina he put his feet down on the floor beneath him, ready to get up and honor her wishes but rather she surprised them both truthfully with a slow shake of her head.

"No. I think if she met someone willing to listen to her she would enjoy their company."

Robin nodded slowly, taking a swig of his ale without taking his eyes off Regina. "I see." He set the drink down on top of the faded wood of the bar. "But why do you think the king would ignore her?"

"Because he hardly looks at her apart from when he wants someone to warm his bed," she muttered. "Not that she minds, mind you. She can barely stand the sight of him, his insipid daughter either."

"Well from what I've heard, the king landed a queen far more beautiful than all the stars in the sky. Leopold should be counting his blessings nightly, I'd say. It actually buggers belief how a man that soft and old found himself worthy of being with someone so enchanting."

"He isn't worthy," Regina assured him with a heavy swallow of ale. "As bitterly low as the Queen's self esteem is, even she knows she deserves better then him."

She took a long drink of the ale in front of her and turned to look at him. "Her mother accepted the proposal for her, she didn't even have a chance to say no," Regina explained. "After the proposal, she and Daniel, the stable boy she had been seeing, made plans to run off and get married in secret. The king's daughter found out, told the Queen's mother and… her mother murdered Daniel in front of the Queen."

She wasn't quite sure what made her speak about Daniel to this man, to this stranger truthfully. She hadn't spoken a word about Daniel to anyone in the year since she watched Cora crush his heart into a pile of dust at her feet. Rather it was to protect Snow White from knowing what she had caused or to protect herself from the stabbing pain that accompanied her thoughts about him or something else but for whatever reason; she hadn't spoken his name in over a year.

But with Robin that ache in her heart lessened to a dull roar when she talked about him. She barely knew him, he was a self admitted thief who stole from royalty, of which she very much was. But she felt a certain comfortableness she never felt with anyone before, not even Daniel. She could trust him with her secrets...

Robin bowed his head for a moment before he picked hi head up, blue eyes finding brown.

"I'm sorry." He spoke softly, gently, like it would have made him ill to speak harshly to her. "I didn't-... No one deserves that. Least of all a woman such as yourself."

Regina blinked away the tears that accompanied his name, even that warmth Robin was exuding wasn't enough to make her completely dry eyed when she spoke about her first love, and cleared her throat.

"Thank you. But is there any chance we could go back to pretending you're dumb enough to not know what the Queen looks like? It was rather enjoyable just being Regina Cider the handmaiden for a while," she confessed.

Robin laughed, the deep joyful sound sending shockwaves of happiness through her and she smiled at the man, any thoughts of the king or that bratty little princess long gone.

"Of course, M'lady. Now then." He raised his glass and took a drink, looking at her overtop the rim. "Why don't you tell me more about our Queen? If rumors are to be believed, she's one of the fairest women in the land."

As hard as Regina fought to stop it the furious blush that painted her cheeks crimson returned. She looked at him, fighting a losing battle to bite back her smile.

"Well what else have you heard about her?" she asked with a subtle flavor of flirtation.

That almost smug grin that made it appear like he was in on some grand joke that no one else seemed to be in on made its way to his face again.

"I heard she was stunning, in every way," Robin answered, his eyes soft and gentle and warm as he looked at her, truly believing every word he was saying.

As he spoke his hand just so happened to find it's way over to the edge of Regina's chair but rather than rest his hand on her thigh like most men would do he simply grabbed hold of her hand and gently squeezed, the first gentle touch she had since that short kiss she and Daniel shared before they were supposed to leave.

Regina could scarcely breathe as she gazed into her heroes eyes; kind and gentle and soft with the same shade of blue that Daniels had been.

After a moment Regina cleared her throat and pulled her hand away, blushing a scarlet red that made Robin chuckle at the sight of it. "Forgive me, M'lady, I did not mean to make you blush."

"No I'm sure you didn't," she answered with a rather cheeky grin. "But you flatter me, Sir, with all this knowledge about our Queen."

"Do I?"

"Mmm. If she were here she would be quite flattered as well, I assure you. In fact…" She gnawed at her lip for a moment before she reached out and placed a hand on his leather covered putter thigh, drawing a raised brow from the man sitting across from her. "I would say she would be very flattered as a matter of fact…"

He bit his lip to fight back a smug grin as he reached out and buried a calloused hand in her soft dark colored hair.

"She would, would she?"

"Mmm…"

"So flattered that Her Majesty might permit a no good thief to kiss her in a rather seedy bar?"

It was the first time she had been asked permission for anything regarding her body since the day she walked down that aisle...

Regina grinned and leaned in close. "I can most assuredly say, she would absolutely permit that."

Without wasting another second, Robin closed the last few inches of space between them and pressed his lips against hers.

Gods Regina Mills loved The Day of the Saints Heart.

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